A Sampling Of Editorial Opinion

July 11, 1998

TEACH THEM A LESSON

Too many youthful offenders still commit crimes with impunity. When a juvenile is taken into custody, he is referred to the court for a hearing. But only on rare occasions is detention ordered; usually kids are released and put on probation. They know that's meaningless because even violating probation is unlikely to get them locked up. So youthful offenders quickly learn they can (1) commit crimes, (2) receive not punishment but probation, and (3) upon refusing to abide by the terms of probation still not be held to account. Is it any wonder they are so contemptuous of a mollycoddling system?

Consider what's happening in Richmond's near West End, where dozens of cars have been stolen this year. Hundreds of bikes have been taken in recent weeks, car windows busted for the valuables inside. Police say it is the work of juveniles who have no fear of being punished.

If caught, they are released and often break into more cars before cops finish processing the paperwork. Police are frustrated, citizens are angry - and young criminals are undeterred.

What to do? Perhaps the best approach (short of spinal implants for certain judges) would be to let prosecutors have the option of trying juvenile car thieves as adults. If car theft is all the rage among minors because it is known to go virtually unpunished, then an obvious remedy is to put the problem in the hands of those who will punish the little darlings.

Most adult criminals began as juveniles when they could misbehave with impunity. Taking juvenile crime seriously would help truncate such careers and protect the law-abiding. If there are too few juvenile detention centers, then - for Heaven's sake - build more. Youthful offenders need to learn crime doesn't pay. Too often, now, it does.

- Richmond Times-Dispatch

A LOUSY BET

No one in Virginia should be surprised that Colonial Downs is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. The sad fact is, horse racing is in decline in America. Tracks, for the most part, are closing, not opening.

Race tracks that continue to thrive do so because many are propped up by the revenues from slot machines, video gambling and off-track betting.

That dog won't hunt in Virginia.

So far, Colonial Downs has been able to open only four of the six off-track betting parlors it is allowed by law, because voters have said - in no uncertain terms - that they don't want these establishments in their towns.

Voters have figured out that off-track betting takes more than it gives to a locality. When a parlor opens, bettors take money they might have spent at the local movie theater or restaurant and spend it instead on televised horse racing.

Yet, off-track betting was the cash cow Colonial Downs was counting on. There is little overhead in maintaining a parlor, and lots of money to be made.

It makes one wonder whether Colonial Downs management ever wanted to operate a horse track at all. Colonial Downs opened the New Kent County facility at the last possible minute in 1997, and only after the General Assembly threatened to shut down its off-track parlors if it didn't.

In essence, track officials and Colonial Downs investors gambled that Virginia lawmakers would roll over and allow them to make money off of their betting parlors indefinitely, procrastinating, perhaps forever, on bona fide thoroughbred racing in Virginia.

They gambled and they lost.

It is not up to the commonwealth to bail out Colonial Downs. The enterprise must sink or swim on its own.

- The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk

VALUED FOR PARTS

Someone swiped a 1987 Toyota van from the 500 block of Four Mile Run Road in Alexandria, and you might wonder why anyone would steal a vehicle so utterly devoid of glamour or sex appeal.

It turns out that of the top 15 models of cars stolen in Virginia in 1997, nine were manufactured in the '80s, none is newer than a '94 model, and the top cars for thieves were decidedly unglamorous, old and omnipresent Hondas, Acuras, Fords and Oldsmobiles. Why? Because the models are old and so many of each were made, owners and repair shops need parts. That's why ``chop shops'' spring up to dismantle stolen cars. Also, older cars don't have the high-tech gadgetry that can foil would-be joyriders or chop shop representatives.

Does that mean owners of BMW Z3s can leave those head-turners unlocked, or leave the keys in the ignition? Well, no. That would tempt fate. But drivers of rustbucket Toyota vans should think better of it as well. Imagine that.

- Journal Newspapers, Northern Virginia

AIDS INFORMATION

The euphoria that marked the 11th World AIDS conference in 1996 was missing as researchers gathered in Geneva for the 12th international meeting. This year, the focus returned to the epidemic's relentless march.

The hope sparked two years ago by protease inhibitors has also dimmed. Two new drugs reduce the number of pills that must be taken daily. But the drugs are expensive for developing countries, which have 90 percent of HIV infections.